50 Ways
by AllTheseRandomFandoms
Summary: "So, what should the song's title be?" she asked. Austin thought for a moment. "How about… 'Our Ex-es Suck'" Ally turned out of his hug and swatted his arm, "Austin! How about 'Ways to Say Goodbye?" "Eh, 'Fifty Ways to Say Goodbye,'" Austin added. "Fifty? We only came up with, like, eleven." "Doesn't mean we couldn't think of more," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.


Planes roared overhead flying to and from Miami International Airport. The sun nearly blinded Austin while he looked up at them, as if he could find one in particular. He wondered if she had boarded her plane now or if it had taken off already. He scowled. He didn't care anyway, and still wouldn't if said plane crashed and burned.

Well, he would care, and feel really really bad, but for now… "Mayday, mayday!" rang in his head.

Austin continued down the beach. The waves were invitingly blue and there were plenty of cute girls strolling by, but he didn't notice a thing. The first two days after _it_ happened he ignored life because he'd been so miserable. These past two days he was just mad.

A few blocks away Austin could see a familiar magenta "M" above a crowd of buildings. He was nearing the Mall of Miami. It figured he would find himself heading to Sonic Boom, his second home. Leaving the sand behind, he stepped toward the crosswalk leading to the mall's south entrance when-

HONK!

Austin jumped back onto the boardwalk as a violent heap of violet metal tore right past him.

"HEY, WATCH IT!" he screamed angrily at the Toyota Scion. The driver signaled something rude with his left hand, but the jerk sped away before Austin could respond. Livid, he trudged into the mall.

* * *

His favorite music store was busy like any other Saturday, but the crowds didn't distract him from noticing the lack of a familiar welcome. Ally must have been upstairs, so he ignored the stares of the wondering customers (who were probably realizing it was _the_ Austin Moon) and made his way up.

Opening the door to the practice room, he heard gloomy notes warble from an old piano. Normally, Austin would lean against the door and watch Ally for a little bit. Her funny warm ups always cheered him up. If he was happy anyway he got happier, but today he felt too angry, too bitter, and frankly, all Ally had been playing lately was depressing music. After they'd begun their partnership, the songs she wrote were more often naturally upbeat. However, she totally relapsed over the past two weeks, and with everything today, that was the last straw.

"ALLY! Would you just CUT it OUT?" he half-yelled. Ally turned around shocked and wide-eyed at his cold entrance. "I don't sing sad stuff, so stop being so… sad!" he finished lamely.

Ally narrowed her eyes at the outburst. "Excuse me? Well, you don't look like you're ready to sing the bubblegum fluff you normally have me spit out, either," she snapped back. Austin frowned. That was another thing; Ally had been testy - borderline vicious – the last few weeks, too. Geez, what was wrong with her?

The tense, awkward silence was punctuated by the trill of trumpet. Austin did a double take before hearing the rest of the instruments in the background. "What is that?" he asked slowly.

Ally huffed, trying to calm herself down, before answering, "Earlier I heard Trish listening to the music for some new dog movie with a lot of mariachi in it. It sounded interesting, so I was experimenting with the idea before being rudely interrupted." Here she pointedly glared at Austin, but he brushed it off.

"It doesn't sound very good," he criticized bluntly.

Ally rolled her eyes, patronizing him with, "Yes, thank you. Very helpful." She turned back to the piano and kept playing. Austin stared at her blankly, listening to the keys she played and thinking about what was missing and not thinking about the last few days and wondering why Ally would be even moodier than he was and then thinking back to her and that plane and-

"ALLY!" he shouted again.

"WHAT?" she jumped, startled again.

"Ally, quick, gimme a beat," he told her as he raced to the electric guitar lying against the speakers.

"I don't play drums, Austin," she refuted, crossing her arms.

Austin sighed. "Then on the keyboard, Ally. Please?" he asked, his tone reflecting some remorse for shouting at her. He locked eyes with her and his eyes said the rest. Still miffed, Ally tried to stay strong. She told herself she wouldn't have given in, probably, but the intrigue won her over. Shrugging in defeat, she walked over to the keyboard and tapped out an up-tempo beat.

He nodded his head to it in approval. "Could you add some other mariachi sounds to it, too?"

Ally adjusted several settings on the electric keyboard, looking at the computer screen hooked up to it. On a whim, she hit record, too. Who knew, maybe they could use some of… whatever this was later.

She signaled to him she was ready, and he closed his eyes listening to what they had so far. Austin didn't write lyrics, that's why he had Ally, but he'd picked up some tips from her over the years. He stepped up to the microphone and focused.

A solo trumpet to start with. Acoustic guitar accompaniment. A downbeat- now!

_My heart is paralyzed  
__My head was over sized  
__I'll take the high road like I should  
__You said it's meant to be  
__That it's not you, it's me  
__You're leaving now for my own good_

Surprised, Ally looked at him with one question in her eyes. Austin nodded curtly to her. Briefly catching a glimpse of the painfully sunny Miami sky outside the window, he sang his heart out:

_That's cool but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say_

_She went down in an airplane  
__Fried getting sun tanned  
__Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand  
__Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes  
__She met a shark underwater  
__Fell and no one caught her  
__I returned everything I ever bought her  
__Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies  
__And ways to say you died_

Austin stepped back and felt a little lighter after venting. The music kept going, but he was out of lyrics. His break up was basically captured in that first verse. He stepped up to the mic with an open mouth and nothing to sing for the second verse, but Ally, sensing his hesitation, beat him to it.

_My pride still feels the sting  
__You were my everything  
__Someday I'll find a love like yours _(Austin's jaw kinda dropped)_  
__We'll have a happy end  
__He won't say let's stay "just friends"_  
_How could you leave the day before… _(Ally couldn't finish the thought, shaking it off instead)

_That's cool but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say_

_He was caught in a mudslide  
__Eaten by a lion _(she had that "What comes next?" look, too, so Austin cut in)  
_Got run over by a crappy purple Scion  
__Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes_ (Ally sang back thankfully)  
_He dried up in a desert  
__Drowned in a hot tub  
__Danced to death in an eastside nightclub_ (Austin smirked because neither of those two could dance, actually, to which Ally smiled back ruefully)  
_Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies  
__And ways to say you died_

_A-a-h, A-a-h_

The middle 8 was coming up, and only years of being together let them harmonize so perfectly and spontaneously.

_I wanna live a thousand lives with you  
__I wanna be the one you're dying to  
__Lo-ove  
__But you don't want to_

_That's cool but if my friends ask where you are I'm going to say _he said

_That's cool but if my friends ask where you are I'm going to say _she echoed

_She went down in an airplane  
__Fried getting sun tanned  
__Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand  
__Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes  
__She met a shark underwater _(Austin paused to chomp his arms at Ally's face)  
_Fell and no one caught her _(Ally shrugged her arms innocently)  
_I returned everything I ever bought her  
__Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies_

Austin played the guitar and jumped around Ally, and she rocked out as much as she could while standing at the keyboard.

_He was caught in a mudslide  
__Eaten by a lion  
__Got run over by a crappy purple scion  
__Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes  
__He dried up in a desert  
__Drowned in a hot tub  
__Danced to death in an eastside nightclub _(leaning back on each other, they did their best dance moves. Well, Austin did.)  
_Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies  
__And ways to say you died_

They listened as the ending power chords faded out. A few moments of silence followed.

Austin decided to just throw it out there. "Cassidy left for L.A. today. She's… she's not ever coming back. Apparently the long distance thing wasn't going as well as I thought it was."

Ally looked at him sadly. She took a deep breath before admitting, "Dallas left me two weeks ago. He broke up with me the day before our second anniversary-"

"I'm sorry, Al-"

"-because he fell in love with another girl."

Austin shut his mouth. "Was he cheating on you?" he asked in a strained voice.

"No, no… but I knew I was losing him. I could feel it." Ally's eyes were starting to tear up. Austin gently put down his guitar and hugged her from behind, resting his head on hers.

"Hey, you did really well with this song," Ally tried to lighten the mood a few minutes later.

"Yeah, we sounded pretty awesome," Austin corrected her.

"Were you inspired by the Phantom of the Opera?"

"The- Who?"

Ally tilted her head, "Never mind. So, what should its title be?"

Austin thought for a moment. "How about… 'Our Ex-es Suck'?"

Ally turned out of his hug and swatted his arm, "Austin! That's not what the song's about. It's about being hurt by people you still love, keeping the truth to yourself, not knowing with how to say goodbye so instead ly-… Oh, duh! 'Ways to Say Goodbye'?"

"Eh, 'Fifty Ways to Say Goodbye,'" Austin added.

"Fifty?" she asked, doing a quick headcount. "We only came up with, like, eleven."

"Doesn't mean we couldn't think of more," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Austin! That's terrible!"

He gave her a look. "Worse than the song we just wrote?"

Ally scrunched her face up in shame. Then she resigned herself to giggling. "I guess not."

"He was abducted by a Zalien," Austin started slowly, prodding her to continue.

"Um, buried under cardigans?"

"Swept away by gale-force hurricane winds."

"Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes," Ally sang, picking up speed.

"She was caught on an umbrella-"

"Choked on a pickle!"

"Cried to death because she was getting tickled!" With a sly look as the only warning, Austin mercilessly started tickling Ally's waist.

"Wait, NO! Austin!" she squealed.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Let go!"

"Never!"

"AUSTIN!"

"ALLY!"

"He-help me, help me! I'm all out of lies," Ally sang breathlessly, trying to distract him by getting back to the song.

"And ways to say you died," Austin laughed, his arms moving from her ribs and settling around her. They stood catching their breath and hugging loosely.

"Hey, Austin?"

"Yeah?"

Ally's eyes glinted mischievously. "Can we sing it again?"

Austin grinned. "Hit it!"

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this! I rarely like songfics, and I have certainly never written them before, but come on. This is Austin & Ally, and once I thought of this, it had to be written. : )**

**By the way, I saw another fic published here with the same song for inspiration, but our stories don't play out the same way. Since Austin and Ally will get together eventually, I just like writing them out as really good friends. Who are perfect for each other. And totally cute together.**

**Finally, I do not own Austin & Ally or the song **_**50 Ways to Say Goodbye**_** by Train (lyrics slightly modified for my story). I do love both, though! [and if you love this story, review and let me know ;)]**


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